I love bonsai and I’m also passionate about Australian Native Plants so it was natural for me to try to grow Aussie natives as bonsai. Originally I tried to use the Japanese timing and techniques and had many abrupt failures so gave up on natives as bonsai for many years. More recently, information from committed growers has led me back to growing natives as bonsai. Word was spreading that many of our natives dislike having roots pruned in the traditional winter/ spring period but thrive when repotted during the summer. Several years ago I set out to confirm this with a series of trials.I grew a number of plants from a range of species and set about trial repottings each month over summer to try to ascertain the preferred months and techniques. The results have been quite clear. Almost all the trees that have been root pruned and repotted from October to February have survived and flourished. Several banksias that were repotted in March did not shoot well but sulked until the following summer and are still well behind their counterparts which were repotted earlier in summer. Results from my trials indicate that all the native species I have tried do better when repotted during late spring or summer. The presence of new shoots or active growth does not appear to matter. I have root pruned most species while they are actively growing without any problems. The following pictures illustrate the repotting procedure on a banksia clump. The notes on the pot indicate this was last repotted on 27.10.2011 and ¾ of the roots were removed at that time . These pictures were taken on Nov 30, 2012 and as you can see, well over half the roots were removed.

Cut 1/3 off the bottom